lifestyle

Our Beautiful Country

Backstory

October is a busy time here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The mountains, woods, and little towns beckon those who want to capture the grandeur of autumn colors. City folks from DC mingle with Canadians, Americans, and Europeans and find a welcome in these hills.

Our Beautiful Country

We’ve been traveling our beautiful country in recent months and I am always so amazed at the variant beauty of this great land.

The colors of the desert . . . the majesty of the mountains . . . the mysterious draw of the ocean. It is all there for us to visit and enjoy.

I also appreciate something else you may not have thought about. We can travel so freely from one state to another. To cross from New Jersey into New York, there is no border at which we have to show our papers. There is no guard station when you cross from Georgia into Florida at the start of winter, or back north when Spring rolls around.

We take this travel freedom for granted, yet it is something we should cherish. Americans can go where they want when they want. It’s a freedom that is newly won. We’ve only had it for 50 or 60 years or so.

How different from our ancestors, many of whom never strayed more than 20 miles from home. Travel vehicles were not available. Neither were the roads. They had enough to do to keep bread on the table, let alone take to the road.

Today, we have many choices of how we can get there. What a great feeling to know we can spread our wings any time we want.

What are we waiting for . . . Let’s go!

P.S. Come to Woodstock this Saturday, October 7, for the fun-filled Shenandoah Autumn Festival at Shenandoah Fairgrounds. Authentic country happenings you won’t find elsewhere – Apple Butter-Making, Whole Hog BBQ Demonstration, Flippin Chicken Contest, Beer, Wine, and Spirits Tastings, Live Music, and Virginia’s Golden Axe Log Splitting Contest, along with Shenandoah Downs Harness Racing. What a swinging day of fun. Y’all come on down, y’hear.

[Show #471]

My TV Family

Backstory

Men watch TV differently. Where there are situations to remember, from one episode to the next, they forget. Sometimes I think they are just watching the pretty pictures.

Women, on the other hand, get involved in the plots, the characters, and the drama. It’s like the family on TV is mine and I have to worry about them and care about them. Their fate is in the hands of those pesky writers who can save or sacrifice my favorite TV family members, any time they want.

My TV Family

Do you have a favorite TV show? One that you drop everything to watch? You may have followed your favorite TV characters for years and years; some of them have been on the air for so long.

And now, Amazon and Netflix give you the blessed opportunity to watch one episode after another. Binge, without commercials.

I caught an episode of Grey’s Anatomy at the part where Dr. Yang was given a hospital to run, in Switzerland. Dr. McDreamy was still alive and well-coifed, the two women doctors are still married.

My husband had never watched West Wing, the series about cut-throat DC politics that came on the air in 1999. Netflix has all seven seasons. After the first two episodes, he was addicted, and we binge-watched those shows for weeks on end. He noted that the same issues stumping leaders inside the Beltway then are still confounding politicians, twenty years later.

I can just see the writers of these shows, determining the destiny of one character or another. Knocking this one off. Bringing that one back. Creating a horrific incident – only then to reveal – it was all a dream.

What God-like powers they have. What will they allow to happen next, to your favorite character? Gotta go tune in and find out! See ya later.

P.S. Bill and I have enjoyed many seasons of the series Suits. Especially when our favorite character, Rachael (Megan Markle) began dating the British prince in real life. We went back and watched every episode of West Wing – scripted so long ago yet so current. Makes you want to ask the politicians – “Did we learn anything?” More recently, we were entranced by the family locked in drama in the multiple seasons of Succession. What are some of your favorite binge-able TV shows?

[Show #661]

Sitting On the Porch

Backstory

Today’s story is about those special happy places that people have. These are the sites tucked in someplace where dreams are conjured up, plans are made and broken hearts are healed. Your happy place may be in a tent made of sheets draped over furniture. It might be the back deck, the front porch, the rose garden, or the vegetable patch. Come along, hear my story, and tell me yours.

Sitting on the Porch

The other night, we were sitting on the back deck, watching the fireflies and gazing at the mountains that rise across the road. This is one of our favorite sites. We find calm and peace out there. The frenzy of the world tones way down and the sounds of birds and crickets give us solace.

How precious are the special places like this where moments take on special meaning, and lessons seem to sink in better and we made good resolutions and conjured up the best thoughts.

When I was growing up, my grandmother would hold court on the front porch each evening. If my sisters and I had been good that day, we’d be treated to orange soda and pretzels while Nanny told stories of her girlhood and my mother’s childhood.

Later, my mom sitting on the front porch in the evening was like a magnet for the teenagers in town. We lived right on the main street, where everyone passed by. Mom was fun, and the kids would pop in on their way to or from. She was particularly popular with the young men in town, Teasing them, listening to their adolescent fears, and providing motherly encouragement.

When my kids were growing up, we had a hanging swing on the front porch. We’d go out there in the evening and sing. They so enjoyed that singing.

What is your recollection of a secret place or a special place where life was good? Remember it, and enjoy.

P.S. Thanks for being here so many Sunday mornings, reading or listening to these stories. Consider making a comment at the end. Always love to hear from you.

[Show #362]

It Takes a Village

Backstory

In my youth, the whole town seemed to participate in my development. Today, parenting is much more private. This story is about a few different approaches.

Takes a Village

A friend and I were agreeing that it takes a village to raise a child; although that adage seemed to have more credence when we were growing up than it does today. The whole neighborhood watched out for kids back then.

Young boys caught in the act could expect a smack on the butt from whatever mother witnessed their misdemeanor. Story tellers gathered kids around bonfires, whether they were theirs by birth or not.

My friend endorsed a wide circle of adults in the lives of his children today too. He felt they would benefit from different points of view, different cultures, new ideas to explore, interacting with adults outside of the core family.

He cautioned, however, that he is careful about the people he brings into his children’s lives. He wants to make sure they are a good influence.

For instance, he befriends smokers outside his home, rather than supporting the habit under his roof. His wife insists that women visiting their home dress according to their moral standards.

They want to mold the world in which their children live. They filter the village of adults who will be in a position of influence. Their goal is to help the children develop into caring, knowing adults.

Think it will work?

P.S. Then there are the grandparents who wind up raising their grandkids. They usually don’t expect to have a second go-round. Parenting grandparents find help and guidance in GRAND, the lifestyle magazine for today’s grandparents living the ageful life. Their mission is to provide grandparents of all ages and in all stages of life, information and inspiration. Free subscription – https://www.grandmagazine.com/grandparents/

[Show #364]

GPS – Friend or Foe?

Backstory

As leaders today wrestle with issues of artificial intelligence, I am still an admirer of a gizmo far more familiar – the automobile GPS. As it has become more operational and available over the last twenty years, it has continued to be a mystery to some users and a blessing to most.

GPS: Friend or Foe?

Of all the modern technology with which we’ve been blessed, the GPS may be the greatest of all. The Global Positioning System tells the driver where you are and how to get where you want to go. Once you have the GPS Guidance, you wonder how drivers ever got along without it.

Remember fumbling in the dark with a map and a flashlight and trying to see street signs to figure out which way to go next? Now, none of that is necessary. Maggie just tells you which way to go. At least Maggie is the name we gave our Magellan GPS.

She lights the way for us. . .except when she doesn’t. Oh, haven’t your heard? Maggie the GPS is not infallible. She has taken us down a dirt road into an orchard and onto a road so rutted as to be impossibly impassable. She has told us to turn down a road that is no longer there because of new construction of which she was unaware.

It’s part of the mystique of traveling with Maggie. You never know when you still need to turn to your trusty atlas or those MapQuest directions to find your way out of the maze she has put you in.

But even with her quirks and occasional detours, we would not give up our GPS. Ninety-five percent of the time it directs us accurately. Most importantly, it tells us which lane to be in when taking the next curve. That alone could be a lifesaving tool.

Maggie rides shotgun wherever we go.

P.S. As explained by the researchers, GPS – a navigation system after all – can be viewed as a form of artificial intelligence. Its systems use stored map information to determine optimal route selection. That paved the way for the unchartered and scary future of AI.

[Show #481]

Reinventing the Rest of Our Lives

Backstory

It was a meeting of businesswomen in Florida.  They were all beautifully dressed, vivacious entrepreneurs.  Most were over 40 or 50, and they were networking and having fun.  Introductions revealed that many were starting anew; using past experiences or new skills to make their way in the world.  It reminded me of this story, written some ten years ago, that surely applies today as well.

Reinventing the Rest of Our Lives

I’ve been reading a book titled, “Inventing the Rest of Our Lives.” It’s for women in second adulthood.

What’s that, you ask? Well, it’s for women over 50 who want to make the most of the rest of their lives. They may have fulfilled the role of wife, mother, and grandmother, and now they’re looking for more.

We already know that our generation is stronger, healthier, and more vital than any that has come before. Did you also know that our brains experience a post-50 growth spurt that may make us better at judgment calls?

Women in particular are putting this new-found vitality and judgment to work for them. They’re changing careers, starting work for the first time, going into business, or leaving one for more enticing endeavors.

By 50, they figured they paid their dues and owed no one. They’re young enough to do anything, go anywhere and they are. They’re taking cruises, going back to school, taking up new interests, or sports, or physical fitness. They’re selling and buying online and looking at vintage. They’re also mentoring, becoming role models for young women. They’re volunteering, getting involved in politics.

One thing is sure, we’re not ready for the rocking chair. Stand aside. We’re becoming a force of nature.

P.S.  My daughter Lisa joined this rank of achievers–over–age–50 when she graduated from college this year – some 40 years after high school. Fully occupied by a demanding, full-time job and family, she persevered through course after course, gaining momentum as she went along. So proud of her for having the courage, carving out the time, creating the incentive, and maintaining the determination to complete and benefit from this learning. Lisa Thomson, Class of 2023.

[Show #216]